Pinched Nerves
by BbbStrwbrry
Summary: She squeezed her eyes shut – letting the moment dissipate into nothing, the last thing she needed was to get kinky with Wally in the med bay and make her neck even worse. Doctor!Wally, post-season one, pre-season two, Spitfire.


**Ironically, I wrote this while listening to a Skillet playlist, which considering the amount of fluff/tension is hilarious. But, nonetheless, enjoy the fic. I haven't written anything substantial in two years, so hopefully the rust isn't too obvious. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice.**

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><p>Artemis knew she screwed up the second she went in for the back somersault. She was mid-way through the air when she had decided to second-guess herself. She was halfway through her rotation when she realized she hadn't reached the height she needed to in order to pull the flip all the way around. If only she had used more momentum from the kick to the face she gave the no-name-henchman of Lex Luthor. Artemis used all her strength to pull herself around – landing so hard that her knees buckled on impact.<p>

The blonde could tell there was something wrong with her neck, but adrenaline was starting kick in. So, even though she was probably going to make it a million times worse, she forged on, because that's what Crock ladies did. She gave the final blow: an uppercut to the henchman, and he was out cold.

Artemis turned her head to the left, ever so slightly, to take a look at the chaos behind her. That slight movement caused an eruption of pain from her neck, through her shoulder, and then traveled down the length of her spine. Her response was a sharp inhalation of breath, as she collapsed to her knees, grabbing her neck, furiously trying to blink the tears out of her eyes.

Superboy heard her gasp of pain, no matter how quiet it was in comparison to the backdrop of grunts, curses, and witty banter around him.

_Artemis, are you okay?_ He asks over the mental link set up through M'gann.

Wally immediately snaps to attention, briefly forgetting about the hoard of henchman in front of him, and the fact that he was supposed to disable this hoard in order to go and grab the case one of them was holding – the whole objective of the mission in the first place. He continues deflecting blows with ease, while simultaneously awaiting Artemis' response over the link.

_I'm fine._ Came Artemis' lame reply, but Wally knew better. He could hear the way her voice wavered and how she was trying to act strong, in order to avoid coddling from her fellow teammates – particularly him.

Kaldur's voice came over the link next. _Artemis, where are you?_

_I'm over by the assembly lines. I'm fine, guys, I swear. Stay focused on the mission. Stop worrying about me._ Artemis grumbled irritated and got up off the floor. She knew that she couldn't move to her left, so she would have to be aware of that the rest of the battle.

She took a deep breath to gather herself and ran into the fray once more. Artemis used all the strength she could muster, pushing any and all pain messages into the furthest corners of her brain. The archer was strategically notching arrows, pinning henchman to walls with cement arrows. She began to take a defensive station, taking out henchmen that were trying to sneak up on Robin and Kaldur. The duo had teamed up and were currently trying to apprehend the briefcase that Batman had requested they retrieve from LexCorp.

Artemis had just notched another arrow and was ready to let it fly into a goon who was aiming to punch Robin in the face, when she felt strong hands wrap around her neck.

Now, if Artemis' neck was messed up before, it was infinitely more messed up now that this douchebag was choking her. She was prepared to elbow the guy straight in the solar plexus when the weight disappeared off her back, accompanied by a gust of wind. An indication that Wally had helped her out.

"I thought you were supposed to grab the briefcase!" She yelled to him, making a conscious effort to use her entire body to turn towards Kid Flash.

"Yea, but now Robin and Aqualad are on it!" He retaliated back, throwing a well-aimed punch into the guy's stomach, effectively knocking him out.

"I had it under control!" Artemis retorted over the commotion going on around them, letting an arrow fly towards a henchman who jumped from a walkway intent on knocking M'gann out of the air. The arrow exploded and the goon was soon plastered against the wall, covered in the polyurethane glue.

"Whatever," Wally replied lamely, coming up on her left side. Trying to avoid a potential fight between the two of them by letting the conversation drop.

Artemis, briefly forgetting about her neck, turned to her left to look over at him preparing to rip him a new one for prioritizing her over the mission. The pain shot down from the base of her skull, causing her to wince. It was honestly some of the worst pain she had felt, comparable to broken ribs, concussions, and the occasional broken nose. Wally's twisted himself around to look at her.

"Okay, don't even bother telling me you're fine, cause you clearly aren't." Wally's eyes narrowed, scrutinizing her, analyzing her body, searching for the source of her pain.

Artemis made a move to shrug it off, but stopped mid-shrug, her muscles tensing in preparation for the pain. Her eyes shut briefly, and when they opened Wally was nose to nose with her. Barely an inch between their faces, her painful gasp blowing into his face. At any other time, Wally's cheeks would've been a burning shade of red, but his intense concentration on Artemis belayed that reaction. The redhead placed his gloved hands on her shoulders, gently forcing them into a relaxed position. His hands remained there; rubbing small circles into her shoulders, which eased whatever tension had crept up in there. Goosebumps traveled up the archer's forearms at his ministrations, as she temporarily forgot where they were.

_Mission Accomplished. Good job, Team. _Kaldur praised over the link. Shattering whatever environment the couple had created for themselves. Wally turned away from Artemis to see Robin holding the briefcase in his hand, swinging it around to knock out henchmen that were rushing him. _Miss. Martian, please call the bioship, so that we may head back for a debriefing._

M'gann didn't even bother replying, her eyes glowed white for a brief moment and the bioship appeared in the warehouse, density shifting through the roof. The team ran towards the ship, Artemis resorting to running backwards in order to provide cover fire with the last of her explosive arrows and Robin using his batarangs for additional coverage. Once inside the ship, M'gann quickly took control and gracefully piloted them out of the warehouse and back towards the cave.

The ride was quick, as was the debriefing, however Artemis couldn't help but focus on her neck the entire time. She could physically feel the bruises forming from the jackass that tried to choke her, which royally pissed her off. Not only that, but as she stood there, half-interested in Batman droning on about how oh-so-important this particular briefcase was for the League's investigation into Luthor's current evil schemes, trying to work the kink out of her neck it only seemed to grow worse. She tried rolling her shoulders and rotating her neck in circles, but it only seemed to hinder her more. Artemis considered rubbing circles into her neck, but she hadn't looked in a mirror yet, and not knowing where her bruises were raised the possibility of her hitting one. Plus, she currently didn't want to feel any more pain than she was already feeling.

On top of this, Wally had been watching her the entire time. From the second they got on the bioship, and all the way through the debriefing. He had strategically kept focus on Batman while also stealing glances at Artemis, diagnosing her condition with his eyes.

Once Batman had let the team go, Wally made a quick move to grab Artemis' wrist before she could make a getaway to the zeta tubes. He knew that she would try to avoid him, avoid the coddling, but she should've just accepted her fate. Obviously, Wally was going to make sure she wasn't severely injured. What else were superhero boyfriends made for?

"Dammit," Artemis huffed under her breath, "I thought I was gonna be able to get away with this one."

"Yea, fat chance," Wally chided, gently pulling her towards the med bay.

Artemis let herself be dragged along by Wally. When they had reached the med bay, the speedster sat her down on one of the cots.

"Okay," he said, putting his hands on his hips, "What exactly did you do?"

Artemis sighed, "I was doing a backflip off of one of the henchman, ya know, casually. And I second-guessed myself mid flip. Didn't get enough momentum to rotate myself around, and when I landed my neck was messed up."

"This isn't counting the one I found trying to choke you, does it?" Wally asked, one hand supporting his arm, while the other covered his chin. Artemis could tell he was going through a list of possible diagnoses in his head.

"Right," she answered, rubbing her neck.

Wally slowly approached her, grasping her cowl and gently sliding it over her head. Artemis tried her best not to gasp in pain, but she couldn't help her quick intake of breath as her neck moved the wrong way.

"Sorry, sorry," Wally apologized, continuing to pull the cowl over her head so that he could take a better look at her neck. "My diagnosis is a pinched nerve. I don't think it's too bad, but when you get home you should probably put ice on it. Honestly though, knowing you, you should be fine in a day or two." He scrutinized the bruises that were forming over her neck. "As for the bruises," he leaned into her neck; placing feather light kisses on each of the angry misshapen purple marks marring her skin. Artemis' body involuntarily reacted to Wally, a shiver running up her spine. "Mom always says kisses work miracles on bruises."

She could feel his smirk on her neck, and his fingers gently ran up her arms and stopping at her shoulders. He began rubbing circles on the left side of her neck, at the base of her skull and gently traveling down to her shoulder. Tension released from her muscles, the pain lifting immensely due to Wally's massage.

"My other treatment is a massage by your sexy boyfriend." He whispered into her ear, as he continued unwinding her muscles and nerves.

Artemis didn't want to be stereotypical and moan, but she couldn't help the one that escaped her mouth as he released the tightness in one particular muscle that had been bugging her for weeks before this injury. She stared into Wally's green eyes. His eyes were slightly dilated, too little light in the med bay, and they were so close that Artemis could also see the flecks of gold reflecting in them. His concentration was purely on working the tension out of her shoulders, and taking pressure off the nerve. He glanced down at her, seeing her staring at him. He gazed into her stormy gray eyes, seeing the pain swirling in them, but also seeing the glassy look of pleasure. The sexual tension in the room could be cut with a knife. She squeezed her eyes shut – letting the moment dissipate into nothing, the last thing she needed was to get kinky with Wally in the med bay and make her neck even worse.

The redhead stopped his massage, "Hopefully that helps, babe." He said, in a low, raspy voice.

Artemis nodded, rewarding him with a kiss to the side of his mouth. He tasted like a combination of peppermint and sweat, typical of him. Wally smiled goofily, placing an arm gently around her shoulders and placing a chaste kiss against her temple. She relaxed against him, her neck feeling a little better after his short massage.

"Thanks, Baywatch," she smiled, letting him guide her out of the med bay and down the corridor to the zeta tubes.

"Hey, I gotta watch out for my girl, don't I?"

The archer snorted, continuing their walk down the corridor. "Whatever you say, Wallman."

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I really appreciate feedback!<strong>


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